Revenge! by Nicole Stuart

Book Title:  Revenge! By Nicole Stuart

 

ISBN  9781301874576

Part of Series:  No

Author:  Nicole Stuart (Smashwords  Diesel ,Kobo ) 

Available at:  Smashwords, Barnes and Noble , Kobo, Apple, Diesel, Baker-Taylor, Sony

Price:  $4.99

Number of words (approximately):  38 157

Star Rating (of five):  4

Summary:  A scientist finds he is working on a biological weapon for the Arartheid Government.  He escapes to the United States, and leaves his research behind.  Then the Muslim terrorist attack on the World Trade Center takes his family.  He wants revenge, and turns to his previous work to get it. 

Extract: 

- Our lives never became the same again after 9/11, as the attack became known.  We listened to the speeches of President Bush and other politicians and religious leaders assuring the nation that Islam was a religion of peace, that the attacks had been carried out by a renegade faction under Osama bin Laden, that not all Muslims were fanatics.  I understood the need for those speeches, that the President could not allow the nation to take revenge on any Muslim they could find, that he must do whatever he could to protect the six hundred thousand Muslims living in the United States.  But I never forgot the repulsive face of Yasser Arafat denying any responsibility, while his Palestinian Muslims danced their joy in the background, danced to celebrate the death of our daughter.  They came to epitomize the face of Islam for me.  I saw that clip several times more, after that first time, and each time I saw it, my impression grew stronger that, although Arafat might not have been responsible for the attack, he wished that he had been.  I noticed the silence from most Muslim countries around the world about the attacks, a silence that was all the more remarkable for the loud cries of resentment at the deaths of the Taliban terrorists killed by American forces.  I heard from a friend in South Africa that the Muslim population there was declaring that ‘America had at last got what it deserved’.  There was never any comment from those hate mongers about the contribution that the American Government and, in many cases, the American people, made to their countries, in food, medication, education, aid of every kind, and always without wanting anything in return except, perhaps, a desire to be liked.  I contrasted these facts with the statements that Islam was a religion of peace.  I heard with horror that Taliban-like schools were being run in the United States, hiding under the umbrella of free speech, an umbrella that existed nowhere in a Muslim-governed country, while they brainwashed the Muslim children to hate their hosts.  Although I had been critical of the Israeli government in their treatment of the Palestinian refugees, a problem that I thought the Israelis had at least contributed to by their actions and policies, I now started to understand what it must be like to live in a country that was under constant threat of attack, of annihilation by the Muslim nations.  I still could not sympathize entirely with Israel, but I could understand them more clearly. -

Reviewer’s Comments:

Structure:  The book complies with all guidelines for easy reading.  The language is good, unpretentious and pleasant.

Content:  The book is written in the first person, describing in person terms the joys and harrowing sadness of the character’s life, his decision to seek revenge on the religious insanity that leads men to take the lives of others.  His suffering is relieved when a Muslim woman shows him that the insanity is guided by evil men, and is not a necessary part of the religion.  The book addresses issues that many have raised in a new way, and possibly gives a warning.

Reviewer’s Comments:  This book is a gem!  It is stressful to read, raising questions and possibilities that one would wish not to have to confront, and showing how many of those who suffered as a results of the 9/11 attacks have felt.  It is strongly recommended.

Karin B